Author Gary Taylor ◦
Everyone loves a platypus… Megachile canifrons (is nesting in my BeeTown only a few metres away), Meroglossa rubricata 3rd pic (also nesting in my BeeTown), Lasioglossum (Chililictus) 4th pic female, 5th pic male (they’re ground nesters and love the piles of natural mulch I’ve got lying around and are by far one the most prolific native bees at my place).
Just 3 of the 8 species of native bee I’ve seen on the platypus in the last couple of days… But what makes this really cool is that a bit under 4 years ago, after my BeeTown was pretty much established, knowing from experience that the “Coastal Moort” Eucalyptus platypus was a favourite, I went to Bunnings to buy one…
There was a chest high forest of them last week, all gone… Someone bought the lot… well almost, they left one scrawny little one, the runt of the litter, the child that nobody wants… Is it wrong to want your offspring (that includes trees you’ve planted) to be their best? Of course not, I also wanted a big strong healthy looking tree… Bunnings bloke said “more on order, dunno when they’ll arrive, can mark that one down, probably just get chucked anyway…”
Well some people can turn their back on a weeping platypus crying out for love but I can’t… 😅 And now, less than four years later, that little 30 cm runt of a seedling stands 18 foot tall (5.5 metres for the youngsters), casts a 20 foot (shadow width wise at noon), and is flowering for it’s first time… Yeah, I know, it’s kinda one of those “you had to bee there” moments but hey I’m just sharing joy with friends… 🙂
Woohooo! Trifecta! It’s a bit like a Johnny Cash song, well the one on the left, that’s Exoneura, the one on the right Amegilla, the one in the middle is Hylaeus elegans and the whole lot are all onnnn… a platypus… 😄
And the guy in the rear… was a Prosopisteron… 😅
And just because we can’t get enough of the platypus…
Blogs | The Coastal Moort | Everyone loves a platypus… | In the folds of the Platypus buds | As the platypus season comes to an end…
Footnote & References
- Eucalyptus platypus, also known as the Coastal Moort, by Gary Taylor, 8 January 2022, Bee Aware of Your Native Bees (Australia), Facebook
- Coastal Moort | Eucalyptus – Ausemade